woman was sentenced to death in Rawalpindi on charges of blasphemy on social media.

Pakistan Christian Rights Watch

A special FIA court in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi has sentenced Aniqa Atiq to death for sending a blasphemous message.

The case against him was registered in the FIA Cyber Crime Wing Rawalpindi in the year 2020 on the complaint of a person named Hasnat Farooq.

The lawsuit contained provisions relating to blasphemy, blasphemy and the Anti-Cyber Crime Act.

The offender was sentenced to death under Section 295 / C of the Pakistan Penal Code and fined Rs. 50,000, 10 years imprisonment and fine of Rs. Under section 11 of the Act, seven years imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 has been imposed. In case of non-payment of the fine, the offender will have to serve another six months imprisonment.

It should be noted that when the culprit was indicted in this case, he had denied committing this crime.

The court ruled that the executions would begin at the same time.

Incident details

An FIA official involved in the case, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the BBC that the accused, Aniqa Atiq, was a resident of Islamabad and had an affair with Hasnat Farooq, a resident of Rawalpindi.

He said that there was a disagreement between the two on an issue on which the culprit got angry and wrote insulting words to Hasnat Farooq.

According to the official, Hasnat Farooq, in whose complaint the case has been registered, asked the accused to delete such insulting words and apologize for it, which according to the FIA official, the accused refused to do so. Was

The FIA official said that Aniqa Atiq was working in a private company and when she did not comply with the request of the plaintiff, Hasnat Farooq took the matter to the FIA Cyber Crime Wing.

He said that at the request of the said person, a case was registered in May 2020 and the accused was taken into custody and the mobile phone used by him was also forensic which proved that the abusive messages were sent from the mobile phone of the accused. Were gone

He said that the investigation of this case also revealed that the accused were involved in sending abusive messages and they did not find any evidence of incitement to do so.

According to the official, the convicts are currently lodged in Adiala Jail, Rawalpindi and they were brought to the court under tight security to deliver the verdict and after delivering the verdict, the convict was taken back to Adiala Jail under tight security.+

What are blasphemy laws and how long have they been in force? 

Blasphemy laws were first enacted during the British rule in the subcontinent in 1860 and then added in 1927.

During the military rule of General Zia-ul-Haq between 1980 and 1986, several clauses were added. General Zia wanted to make these laws more compatible with Islam and to separate the Ahmadiyya community (which had been declared non-Muslim in 1973) from the country's Muslim majority. The country also had to adopt a dangerous method of suppressing Christians and other minorities, which was later successful.

Laws enacted by the British government make it a crime to disrupt a religious gathering, to enter a cemetery without permission, to insult someone's religious beliefs, or to deliberately insult someone's place of worship or object of worship. Were found The maximum penalty under these laws was ten years imprisonment and a fine.

Blasphemy laws were enacted in the 1980's. In 1980, blasphemous statements against Islamic figures were also made a crime and sentenced to three years in prison.

In 1982, another clause was added in which the punishment for deliberately desecrating the Qur'an was carried out. In 1986, blasphemy against the Prophet of Islam was punishable by death or life imprisonment. 


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